July 11th, 2018

1955, Alma Cogan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Dreamboat’. Cogan went on to score over 20 UK Top 40 singles. Nicknamed ‘The Girl With the Laugh In Her Voice’, she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era.

1964, The Beatles appeared live on the ABC Television program “Lucky Stars (Summer Spin)”, performing ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘Long Tall Sally’, ‘Things We Said Today’ and ‘You Can’t Do That’. To avoid the crowd of fans waiting for them, The Beatles arrived at the Teddington Studio Centre by boat, traveling down the River Thames.

1969, ‘Space Oddity’ by David Bowie was released in the UK for the first time. It was timed to coincide with the Apollo moon landing but had to be re-released before it became a hit, later in the year in the UK (but not until 1973 in the US). Bowie would later revisit his Major Tom character in the songs ‘Ashes to Ashes’, ‘Hallo Spaceboy’ and possibly the music video for ‘Blackstar’.

1970, Self Portrait gave Bob Dylan his fifth UK No.1 album. Released by Columbia Records, his tenth studio album was Dylan’s second double album, and featured mostly cover versions of well-known pop and folk songs.

1970, Three Dog Night started a two-week run at No.1 in the US with their version of the Randy Newman song ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’, which was also a No.3 hit in the UK. The song was first covered by Eric Burdon on his first solo album in 1966 and gave Tom Jones & Stereophonics a No.4 hit on the UK Singles Chart in 2000.

1971, The Bruce Springsteen Band opened for Humble Pie at the Sunshine In, Asbury Park in New Jersey. After the show an impressed Peter Frampton from Humble Pie, tells Springsteen and the band he’d like to have them open for them on a national basis. Frampton also said he would be happy to get the band an audition with his record label, A & M Records. For no logical reason Springsteen’s manager Tinker West declined both offers on the spot.

1977, Tonight saw the opening night of a new punk venue, The Vortex Club, on Wardour Street, London with Siouxise, Adam And The Ants, The Slits and Sham 69.

1981, The Specials had their second and final UK No.1 single with ‘Ghost Town’. Despite being a song about Coventry, the band chose to film the video of themselves driving a Vauxhall Cresta around some empty London streets.

1982, Phil Collen, former guitarist with the glam rock band Girl, replaced Pete Willis in Def Leppard who was fired due to excessive alcohol consumption on the job.

1987, Heart started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Alone’, it made No.3 in the UK.

1992, A range of eight ‘ties’, designed by Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead went on sale in the US. President Bill Clinton bought a set. The collection grossed millions in the US by the end of the year. Tie Pin Station

1996, Jonathan Melvoin keyboard player with the Smashing Pumpkins died from a drug overdose in New York City aged 34. Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin who was with Melvoin tried but failed to revive him after Chamberlin was allegedly advised by 911 operators to put Melvoin’s head in the shower. Several songs were inspired by his death, including Sarah McLachlan’s hit single ‘Angel.’ He was the brother of Susannah and Wendy Melvoin of Prince and the Revolution. Melvoin had also been a member of The Dickies.

1998, Billie went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Because We Want To’. The 15 year old made chart history by becoming the second youngest female to score a No.1; Helen Shapiro was the youngest at 14 with the 1961 No.1 single ‘You Don’t Know’.

1999, Ricky Martin started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’. A US No.1 for 5 weeks. The song was the first No.1 song to be recorded, edited, and mixed totally on a DAW (digital audio workstation).

2000, After being sacked ‘out of the blue’ last year, Richard Ashcroft’s ex-manger Jazz Summers issued a writ citing breach of contract for an undisclosed sum said to be ‘in excess of £50,000’.

2002, The funeral of The Who’s bass player John Entwistle took place at a church in The Cotswolds. More than 200 mourners filed into the 12th century church of St Edward in Stow-on-the-wold.

2004, UK band McFly went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Room On The 3rd Floor.’ They broke the record set by The Beatles as the youngest group ever to debut at No.1 on the album charts.

2004, The Darkness replaced David Bowie at this years T In The Park Scottish festival following his heart operation. Other acts appearing included Muse, Franz Ferdinard, Faithless, Scissor Sisters, Black Eyed Peas and Pink.

2009, The Black Eyes Peas ‘I Gotta Feeling’ started a 14-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart ending the 12-week run of the band’s previous single ‘Boom Boom Pow’. It made the band only the fourth to replace themselves at No.1 in chart history, following The Beatles, Boyz II Men, and OutKast.

2011, Rob Grill, lead singer and bassist for the 1960s rock band The Grass Roots, whose hits included ‘Midnight Confessions’, ‘Temptation Eyes’ and ‘Let’s Live for Today’, died after suffering a head injury from a fall caused by a stroke. He was 67.

2013, Pearl Jam released their tenth studio album ‘Lightning Bolt’ which went to No.1 on the US album chart.

2014, Producer and drummer Tommy Ramone (Thomas Erdelyi), from the influential punk rock band the Ramones died aged 65 following unsuccessful treatment for bile duct cancer. He was the last surviving original member of the Ramones before his death. Erdelyi was also an assistant engineer for the production of the Jimi Hendrix album Band of Gypsys.

2015, James McElvar the singer in the Scottish boy band Rewind was said to be lucky to be alive after collapsing with heat exhaustion on board a flight travelling from Stansted to Glasgow. The singer became ill after wearing 12 layers of clothing to avoid paying the £45 ($66), extra baggage fee.